1784 to 1934: The early years

There has always been enthusiasm for flying in Dresden. As early as 1784 - just two years after the first, still unmanned, balloon flights of the Montgolfier Brothers - similar experiments were also carried out in Saxony. »Manned« aviation in the region was pioneered by a woman. It was on 30 September 1811 in Dresden that Wilhelmine Reichard first took off in her balloon. Thereafter, Dresden enjoyed regular balloon and later also zeppelin trips.

The Dresdeners were able to spot the first aeroplane in the air on 21 December 1910, when it was flown by Hans Grade. Until the »Dresden Municipal Air- and Seaplane Port« was opened in the district of Kaditz, Dresden aeronautical enthusiasts used meadows for their airshows - some being more suitable than others.

In May 1914, the first Saxon airmail connection to Leipzig Mockau commenced operation. The development of these innovations was interrupted by World War I.

Four years after the end of World War I, on 1 April 1922, regular passenger flights started from Dresden: »Deutsche Luft Lloyd« served the routes Breslau - Dresden - Leipzig - Magdeburg - Hanover and Dresden - Prague. Three years later it was possible to reach Berlin, Copenhagen, Breslau, Erfurt, Leipzig, Kassel, Essen and other cities by air from Dresden. The connection to Altona (near Hamburg) was first operated using seaplanes which took off from and landed on the River Elbe in the district of Johannstadt.

On 6 January 1926, two of the two major German airlines merged to form »Deutsche Luft Hansa«. With 162 aeroplanes and serving a network of routes of more than 18,000 km, this marked the founding of one of the most efficient and competent airlines in Europe. The City of Dresden played a symbolic part in this at least: When the opening of the connection to Munich was celebrated at the Town Hall in April 1926, the company announced its new name, which is still used today, for the first time.

The airstrip in Dresden-Kaditz soon became too small to handle the increasing air traffic in the 1920s, and so a former cavalry training ground in the uphill district of Hellerau was used instead. It was less than ten years later when even this space became too small to cope with the number of starts and landings. New possibilities were now sought to establish a larger air field, which could also be used for military purposes.